Removing Personal Responsibility is Ruining America

Lack of personal responsibility has caused huge portions of our national debt and it will only make the problem worse.

This problem really started with, or gained speed, with the introduction of the Social Security system. This system started during the Great Depression and was signed into law by Franklin Roosevelt - a Libertarian's best friend. People were loosing jobs, loosing homes, loosing farms and kids were going hungry. The solution has become expenditures that account for close to 40% of the $3.684 trillion in total federal government spending (as of 2013). Some estimates have the current program with an unfunded obligation of $15.1 trillion - meaning that estimated payments out exceed estimated payments in by $15,100,000,000,000.00 - or more then 10,000 times the total wealth of Goldie Locks.

And what has been the result? The program is filled with fraud, and significant numbers of people currently paying into the system don't think they will ever get a benefit from it. 

What happened is this - as the program grew and grew people planned for retirement less and less. People put off saving for retirement until later and later, foolishly thinking they will be able to live off social security benefits. Instead of expecting people to be responsible for their retirement we have provided a program that allows people to completely ignore the need to plan. They have no personal responsibility. 

Looks at the case of the "Affluenza Teen". This idiot was able to literally murder people and say that he shouldn't be punished be cause he had no idea what personal responsibility meant. He and his parents are possibly some of the worst people currently living.

Think about what one of the main talking points was during the debate surrounding the passing of the Affordable Care Act (Obama Care) - What if some kid doesn't have insurance and gets in an accident, do you want to sentence him to death because he can't pay for care or to a lifetime of debt? My answer was always, Yes. It's logical that if someone is faced with knowledge that buying insurance or not buying insurance means having a limb saving procedure instead of amputation there would be a much higher number of people getting insurance. Heck - insurance companies might even use that exact case in their marketing campaign, imagine that; * Enter dimly lit room, young man sitting in tattered chair missing his leg from the knee down* "I thought I was invincible. I was healthy and active, what could I possibly need medical insurance for? Boy was I wrong. Coverage from Mutual Red Shields of Dayton Insurance would have saved my leg." *Scene*

Yes, for many reasons but most prominently is that is the only way to change the course we are on. We could eliminate almost all Federal deficit spending simply by expecting people to be responsible for their own retirement. And whats more? Doing that would put more money into the hands of people that need it (by eliminating FICA taxes).

The message is this; moving back to holding individuals personally responsible for their future, they will become more invested in their future. And that is what we want, people that really care about what they are doing and how it's being done. Instead we have Affluenza Teen - so distant from his personal responsibility that he gets wasted drunk kills a few people and gets what amounts to a slap on the wrist.